Plymouth care home residents celebrate with song and dance
Residents at a care home in St Budeaux, Plymouth, are now fully into the swing of this year’s festive celebrations and making the most of every opportunity to sing and dance, according to the team who support them.
Butterfly Lodge’s calendar of seasonal activities, specially devised to cater for the interests of all residents, has been running since the beginning of December, with highlights including a trip to Santa’s grotto at Tamar View Nurseries, a school carol service, a visiting panto and their very own Christmas Fair.
Sarah McCaffrey, deputy manager at the home, said: “We take every opportunity we can to make the most of the Christmas period, because all the traditional activities mean so much to our ladies and gents.
“It’s lovely to take them out when we can – for example for a seasonal meal at our favourite pub, Billacombe, and to the Christmas party at the St Budeaux Memory Café – but they’ve also enjoyed a lot of different activities at home at Butterfly Lodge.
“We’ve been making ornaments, cards and crackers, baking Christmas cupcakes and cookies, and having lovely gentle festive pamper sessions.
“Our ladies and gents also enjoy a Christmas movie – with popcorn, of course – so we’ve been watching perennial favourites like the original Miracle on 34th Street and White Christmas as well as having some laughs watching the more recent Santa Clause movies
“And, maybe more than anything, they love music – listening to it, singing along, and dancing too – so there’s been a lot of Christmas music playing.
“We are very lucky to have a number of musicians, such as Richard Harvey (pictured) who like to visit us to entertain our ladies and gents and encourage them to have a good old singalong.
“For us, nothing says Christmas like a rousing chorus of a favourite carol or Christmas song, and the smiles on our residents faces say it all.”
Butterfly Lodge is run by award-winning dementia care provider Camelot Care who also run a dementia nursing home in Holsworthy in Devon, as well as three Somerset homes in Bridgwater, Wellington and Yeovil.
